who originated from
St. Just
in
Cornwall
. They were related, through intermarriage with the
St. Leger
family, to
Sir
Richard
Grenville
of the
Revenge
and
Richard de
Granville
, the founder of
Neath Abbey
.
Sir
Richard
, a direct descendant of
Richard de
Granville
(
Visitations of the County of Cornwall
, ed.
J.L.
Vivian
), married
Mary
, daughter of
Sir
John St.
Leger
.
PASCOE
GRENFELL
(
1761
-
1838
) married, as his 2nd wife,
Georgina
St. Leger
, daughter of the
1st Viscount
Doneraile (of the 2nd creation)
, in
1798
.
Charles
Kingsley
, another relation by marriage, first traced the connection. The family were already prosperous
merchants
and
bankers
in the eighteenth century. In
1803
Pascoe
Grenfell
entered into a contract with
Owen
Williams
to
trade in copper
and developed a business in
London
,
Liverpool
,
Swansea
and
Flintshire
. The firm of
Pascoe Grenfell and Sons
was founded in the
1820s
. They owned the
Middle and Upper Bank Copper Works
in the
Lower Swansea Valley
and at their height employed 800 men. They
ran a line of ships
between
Swansea
and their
Flintshire
works on the
River Dee
. The
Swansea
works were sold to the neighbouring firm of
Williams, Foster and Co.
in
1892
.
PASCOE ST. LEGER
GRENFELL
(
1798
-
1879
)
Deputy Lieutenant, J.P.
,
the eldest son of
Pascoe
and
Georgina
, came to live in
Swansea
in the
1840s
and built
Maesteg House
at the foot of
Kilvey Hill
. He married, 1st in
1824
,
Catherine Ann
Du Pre
, the eldest daughter of
James
Du Pre
of
Wilton Park
in
Buckinghamshire
and the grand-daughter of
Josias
Du Pre
,
Governor
of
Madras
, and 2nd in
1847
,
Penelope Frances
Madan
, daughter of the
Dean of Chichester
. He was an active
humanitarian
who
built model (by the standards of the times) houses for his workers
, founded
All Saints Church
,
Kilvey
, and supervised the school taught by
Richard
Gwynne
(see
GWYNNE
(family)
above). He was
chairman
of the
Harbour Trust
and active in the development of
Swansea docks
. By his first wife he had four sons and five daughters:
Madelina Georgina
(
1826
-
1903
),
Pascoe Du Pre
(
1828
-
1896
),
St. Leger Murray
(
1830
-
1860
),
Arthur Riversdale
(
1831
-
1895
),
Gertrude Fanny
(
1834
-
1880
),
Elizabeth Mary
(
1836
-
1894
),
Francis Wallace
(
1841
-
1925
),
Katherine Charlotte
(
1843
-
1906
),
Eleanor Catherine
(
1845
-
1928
).
MADELINA
married
Griffith
Llewellvn
(
1802
-
1888
) at
Baglan Hall
in
1850
.
Llewellyn
became rich from
coal interests
in the
Rhondda
and
Madelina
spent large sums on charity
. She was responsible for the building of
St. Catherine's Church
,
Baglan
, and
St. Peter's Church
,
Pentre
, the restoration of
St. Mary's Church
,
Aberafan
, and the endowment of the
Llewellyn Alms Houses
at
Neath
and of
Swansea Eye Hospital
.
(ELIZABETH) MARY
was long remembered in
Swansea
for her
public service
. She trained as a
nurse
, intending to serve in the
Franco-Prussian war
, but returned to
Swansea
instead and devotedly
nursed the poor
. Contemporary newspapers said that 10,000 people spontaneously attended her funeral at
Danygraig Cemetery
in
1894
. She was responsible for the foundation of
St. Thomas Church
in
Swansea East
, where a stained glass window is dedicated to her memory.
It was the 4th son,
FRANCIS WALLACE
, later
Field Marshall Lord GRENFELL of Kilvey
, who achieved national fame:
P.C.
,
K.C.B.
1886
,
G.C.M.G.
1892
,
G.C.B.
1898
,
LL.D. Edinburgh
1902
,
LL.D. Cambridge
,
1903
, and
F.S.A.
He was b. in
London
29 April 1841
(the
DNB
is in error on this point) but spent his childhood at
Maesteg House
, educated at
Milton Abbas School
,
Dorset
, entered
60th Rifles
(later the
King's Royal Rifle Corps
) in
1859
and served in
Ireland
during the
Fenian troubles
in the
1860s
and subsequently in
Malta
,
Canada
and
India
. He went to
South Africa
in
1873
as
A.D.C.
to
General Sir
Arthur
Cunynghame
. In
1875
he took part in the expedition which claimed
Griqualand West
(the site of the
Kimberley diamond fields
) for
Britain
and was one of the small party who recovered the body of the
Prince Imperial
, the only son of
Napolean
III
, who was killed in a skirmish while serving with the
British forces
during the
Zulu War
of
1879
. He took part in the
British
occupation of
Egypt
in
1882
and in
April 1885
succeeded
Sir
Evelyn
Wood
as
Sirdar (Commander-in-Chief)
of the
Egyptian army
which had to be totally rebuilt after the events of
1882
. He fought the
Mahdi
and his successor, the
Khalifa
, in several battles. The flag he captured in the
battle of Toski
in
1889
is in
St. Peter's Church
,
Pentre
. It was
Grenfell
's reconstituted
Egyptian army
which fought under
Kitchener
at the
Battle of Omdurman
in
1898
.
Grenfell
, who had left
Egypt
for a
War Office
appointment in
1892
, was back in
Egypt
in
1898
but was careful not to cramp the style of the famous
Kitchener
, whom he outranked.
GRENFELL
was a keen
amateur archaeologist
and initiated important excavations at
Aswan
. Some of his finds are in
Swansea Museum
. From
Egypt
he went to
Malta
as
Governor
,
1899-1903
, and to
Ireland
as
Commander-in-Chief
,
1904-08
. There he had to deal with serious rioting in
Belfast
. He represented the
British army
at the coronation
of the last
Tsar
,
Nicholas
II
, in
1896
and wrote a book,
Three Weeks in Moscow
, about his experiences. He was raised to the peerage as
Baron Grenfell of Kilvey
in
1902
and made a
Field Marshal
in
1908
. His later years were devoted to the
Royal Horticultural Society
, of which he was
President
, and the
Church Lads Brigade
. He continued to take an interest in
Swansea
and became a
freeman of the town
in
1889
. He married 1st in
1887
,
Evelyn
Wood
, daughter of
General
Blucher
Wood
, who d. childless in
1899
, and 2nd in
1903
,
Margaret
Majendie
, daughter of
Lewis Ashunt
Majendie
,
M.P.
They had two sons and a daughter. His elder son,
Pascoe
(
1905
-
1976
), succeeded to the title on his father's death on
27 January 1925
. He was buried at
Beaconsfield
,
Buckinghamshire
, after a large funeral at which the royal family was represented.
The last
Grenfell
to live at
Maesteg House
was
KATHERINE
(
KATE
)
, the daughter of
St. Leger Murray
Grenfell
; she
ran a school
there. The house was demolished soon after
World War I
to make way for the
Grenfell Park housing estate
.
Two grandsons of
Pascoe St. Leger
, the youngest (twin) sons of his eldest son,
Pascoe Du Pre
,
Francis
(
1880
-
1915
), who won the
V.C.
, and
Riversdale
(
1880
-
1914
) were killed in
France
and were the subject of a biography by
John
Buchan
. The famous
war-poet
,
Julian
Grenfell
(
1888
-
1915
), the son of
Lord
Desborough
, the
Olympic athlete
, was a cousin. The twins and other members of the family are commemorated in
All Saints Church
,
Kilvey
.
Dr Muriel E. Chamberlain, Swansea
